Yea I knew your intent. Trolling is usually subtle though, and going for overkill is just lazy. :p
Graphics really aren't all about polygons though(textures matter too :p), what helps Halo look amazing is the use of colors+the amount of everything on screen. Colorful is generally pleasing to look at, and their engine handles quite a bit of general chaos, and (with recent games) records all of it for later viewing from any angle you please. That's amazing.
Lighting is no contest though, Deferred Rendering may have it's drawbacks but it can also handle near infinite dynamic light sources. Fantastically amazing.
A great read on Deferred Shading as used in STALKER. Just if anyone was interested in it.